District Generosity Initiative

1/31/2018

Today, January 31 is the deadline for the End of Year Reports for our churches. In this report, churches will highlight its mission by the numbers. One of the many data items on the report is conference apportionments, the method of giving in our denomination that proportionally allocates the church-wide budget to the North Georgia Conference and local churches.

Paying conference apportionments are very important, but, it becomes incredibly challenging for any church to pay the full amount when it cannot meet its obligations or struggles to fund the church’s vision, that is the future picture of how God's inviting the congregation to impact its community.

Most of our churches depend on the last two months of the year for people to be generous. The solution: a generosity initiative. I've discovered that unless churches are intentional, a culture of generosity will not automatically happen. Using biblical principles, best-giving practices, and a church's existing culture, Generis, a group of generosity strategists who specialize in helping churches fund their vision, has collaborated with over 13,5000 churches and organizations to weave together strategies helped to raise of $17.1 billion.

Beginning with the first of three consecutive training sessions, Charles Buffington a generosity specialist from Generis will be available for consulting/coaching in the Atlanta Decatur Oxford District. The three training sessions build off each other, so attendance is required at all three to get the full experience. Each session will have a separate registration.

The meetings will be:

Saturday, February 17
Conyers First UMC
10 am – 3 pm

Saturday, May 5
Conyers First UMC
10 am – 3 pm

Saturday, November 3
Conyers First UMC
10 am – 3 pm

Each Pastor and Finance chairperson is expected to attend these training sessions. If the pastor cannot participate in one of the meetings, then please send a lay leader.

For the February 17 training, there will be a soup/sandwich/drink/dessert lunch served. Cost for lunch is $8. Please RSVP to Renee Farrar at adox@ngumc.net NO LATER than February 8.

On the Journey,

Quincy Brown